Saturday, 31 January 2009

There was a pious man among the Banu Israel who always remained busy in the worship of Allah. A group of people came to him and told him that a tribe living nearby worshiped a tree. The news upset him, and with an axe on his shoulder he went to cut down that tree. On the way, Satan met him in the form of an old man and asked him where he was going. He said he was going to cut a particular tree. Satan said, "You have nothing to be concerned with this tree, you better mind your worship and do not give it up for the sake of something that does not concern you." "This is also worship," retorted the worshiper. Then Satan tried to prevent him from cutting the tree, and there followed a fight between the two, in which the worshiper overpowered the Satan. Finding himself completely helpless, Satan begged to be excused, and when the worshiper released him, he again said, "Allah has not made the cutting of this tree obligatory on you. You do not lose anything if you do not cut it. If its cutting were necessary, Allah could have got it done through one of his many Prophets." The worshiper insisted on cutting the tree. There was again a fight between the two and again the worshiper overpowered the Satan. "Well listen," said Satan, "I propose a settlement that will be to your advantage." The worshiper agreed, and Satan said, "You are a poor man, a mere burden on this earth. If you stay away from this act, I will pay you three gold coins everyday. You will daily find them lying under your pillow. By this money you can fulfill your own needs, can oblige your relative, help the needy, and do so many other virtuous things. Cutting the tree will be only one virtue, which will ultimately be of no use because the people will grow another tree." This proposal appealed to the worshiper, and he accepted it. He found the money on two successive days, but on the third day there was nothing. He got enraged, picked up his axe and went to cut the tree. Satan as an old man again met him on the way and asked him where he was going. "To cut the tree," shouted the worshiper. "I will not let you do it," said Satan. A fight took place between the two again but this time Satan had the upper hand and overpowered the worshiper. The latter was surprised at his own defeat, and asked the former the cause of his success. Satan replied, "At first, your anger was purely for earning the pleasure of Allah, and therefore Almighty Allah helped you to overpower me, but now it has been partly for the sake of the gold coins and therefore you lost." (ra).

Source: From the book "Ihyaa-ul Uloom Ud Deen" by Imam Ghazzali. Imam Ghazali woke up one early morning and as usual offered his prayers and then inquired what day it was, his younger brother, Ahmad Ghazali replied,"Monday." He asked him to bring his white shroud, kissed it, stretched himself full length and saying "Lord, I obey willingly," breathed his last.

And underneath his head rest they found the following verses; composed by him, probably, during the night.

"Say to my friends, when they look upon me, dead Weeping for me and mourning me in sorrow Do not believe that this corpse you see is myself In the name of God, I tell you, it is not I, I am a spirit, and this is naught but flesh It was my abode and my garment for a time. I am a treasure, by a talisman kept hid, Fashioned of dust, which served me as a shrine, I am a pearl, which has left it's shell deserted, I am a bird, and this body was my cage Whence I have now florin forth and it is left as a token Praise to God, who hath now set me free And prepared for me my place in the highest of the heaven, Until today I was dead, though alive in your midst. Now I live in truth, with the grave - clothes discarded. Today I hold converse with the saints above, With no veil between, I see God face to face. I look upon "Loh-i-Mahfuz" and there in I read Whatever was and is and all that is to be. Let my house fall in ruins, lay my cage in the ground, Cast away the talisman, it is a token, no more Lay aside my cloak, it was but my outer garment. Place them all in the grave, let them be forgotten, I have passed on my way and you are left behind Your place of abode was no doweling place for me. Think not that death is death, nay, it is life, A life that surpasses all we could dream of here, While in this world, here we are granted sleep, Death is but sleep, sleep that shall be prolonged Be not frightened when death draweth night, It is but the departure for this blessed home Think of the mercy and love of your Lord, Give thanks for His Grace and come without fear. What I am now, even so shall you be For I know that you are even as I am The souls of all men come forth from God The bodies of all are compounded alike Good and evil, alike it was ours I give you now a message of good cheer May God's peace and joy for evermore be yours."

Monday, 26 January 2009

Brothers and sisters born in this world, please listen to this wonder! The heavens and earth have always existed in peace. The sun, the moon, the stars, and the wind all perform their duty in harmony. Only man, who lives on this earth, has lost that peace. He only talks about it. He gives speeches about establishing peace, but then he disrupts the unity and sets out to rule the world. Is this not a wonder? Such is the speech of man.

In this present century, man has discarded God, truth, peacefulness, conscience, honesty, justice, and compassion. Man has changed so much! Instead of searching to discover the three thousand gracious qualities of God, he has lost all those qualities and opened the way to destruction

The Cave of Safety. Once there was a ruler who was very cruel. His name was Decius the Emperor and he ruled the vast Roman Empire which stretched from Spain to the Persian Gulf. The people who lived in this empire were forced to believe in many gods and goddesses. There was the god of war, the goddess of love, the sun-god, the god of the oceans, and many others. Some of these gods were symbolized by statues and the people were forced to pay special tribute to them or face the possibility of losing their lives.

Within the Roman Empire there was a city called Ephesus located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a bustling city with a great seaport where merchants from all over the Empire came to buy and sell their goods. In the heart of this city lived a few youths that believed in the one true God, Allah. They formed a small group and prayed to Allah for guidance in this land of oppression and injustice. Allah heard their prayers and gave strength to their hearts so that they would not be afraid to proclaim their belief to the people of Ephesus.

One day these youths went to the bazaar where many people gathered to do their shopping. The youths stood up on a platform so that all the people in the bazaar could see and hear them. They said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We shall never call upon any god other than Him because if we did, it would surely be a lie!"

The crowd suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked up at the youths that had so boldly proclaimed their faith. There were people in the crowd who agreed with the youths but were too afraid to say it. Whenever someone talked about the one true God, Allah, they were tortured and executed. Other people in the crowd shouted at the youths on the platform. "Get out of there before we kill you," they said with gnarled teeth and clenched fists.

The youths were not afraid and continued, "If our people worship other gods besides Allah, why don't they bring forward an authority clear and convincing for what they do? Who does more harm than the person who invents a lie about Allah?" As soon as they finished, the pagans started to rush to the platform. The youths quickly jumped down and ran to a cave high up on a mountainside a few miles away. The pagans grew tired trying to catch the nimble youths and decided to search for them the next day. After reaching safety in the cave, the youths were tired from running and decided to sleep there for a few hours.

In order to protect these brave youths, Allah performed a miracle and kept them asleep for more than three hundred years. When they awoke they thought they were only asleep for a couple hours. The youths were hungry so one of them went down to the city to buy some food. Before he left the cave his friends warned him not to tell the pagans where they were. So the youth went down to the city of Ephesus with some money in his pocket. When he approached the city, he noticed something strange. He didn't recognize any of the people. Also, all of the clothes the people wore were different from his own. He couldn't believe the city had changed so much in just a few hours.

He went to the bazaar and found a man baking bread. When the youth brought out his money the baker looked at it very closely. "Where did you get this from?" he asked, peering out the corner of his eye. "I saved it from my earnings, sir," said the youth. "This money has been out of date for 300 years!!," exclaimed the baker.

The youth was shocked and the people of the bazaar began to gather around him. He now realized that Allah had save him and his friends from the persecution of the pagans by making them sleep for a long, long time. When he explained his story to the people that had gathered around him, they were overjoyed. They informed the youth that he was now living at a time when he will no longer be persecuted.

The wicked ruler of the Roman Empire, Decius, had died long ago and now a new tolerant Emperor reigned over the land. The whole city came out of their houses and marched toward the cave where the other youths were. They took the youths and lifted them up onto their shoulders and carried them back down to the city of Ephesus.

Their story became famous throughout the Roman Empire as one of the true and beautiful miracles of Allah mentioned in the Glorious Quran.

Thursday, 22 January 2009

................I seek refuge in Allah from the evils of the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate.

Listen to this wonder! The heavens and earth have always existed in peace. The sun, the moon, the stars, and the wind all perform their duty in harmony.

............You know who said this? learn from the best................

“Keep yourselves far from envy; it eats up and takes away good actions, like as fire eats up and burns the wood”

“The world is a magician greater than Harut and Marut, and you should avoid it”“No person hath drunk a better drought than that of anger which he hath swallowed for God's sake”“Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave”“Do not say, that if the people do good to us, we will do good to them; and if the people oppress us, we will oppress them; but determine that if people do you good, you will do good to them; and if they oppress you, you will not oppress them”

“Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first”

Take benefit of five before five:1) your youth before your old age,2) your health before your sickness,3) your wealth before your poverty,4) your free-time before your preoccupation,5) and your life before your death."[Muhammad (pbuh) - al-Haakim, al-Baihaqee: Saheeh]

.............................Some more for you..............When the world pushes you to your knees, You are in the perfect position to pray.If Allah s.w.t. brings you to it, He will bring you through it.Twakkul: Make Du'a, Do your best, And leave the rest to Allah s.w.t.Whoever follows patience, Success will follow him.Suffering is a gift. In it is hidden mercy.Better to avoid the person altogether than to try to heal from the damage it causes.Cease to sin, Because you will not meet Allah s.w.t. with anything as valuable as few sins.Reflect on the work of art and you mat attain to the artist.The only lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.

If a gem falls into sand, It still remains valuable.If dust ascends to heaven, It still remains valueless.

God places the heaviest burden on those who can carry it's weight.Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him.Beware of this world, For it is sweet and tempting.Action is the biggest measurement of knowledge.

Do not ask, "Where is Allah s.w.t (God)?"Rather ask, "Where am I?"

The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment.Learn the wisdom of compromise, For it is better to bend a little than to break.Gratitude to Allah s.w.t should be as regular as your heartbeat.Be with Allah s.w.t.You will find Allah with you.Learn silence as you have learned speech.Speech will guide you and silence will protect you.Worry about Allah s.w.t. and what he wants you to do and He will take care of your worries. [InshaAllah]

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

Luqman(A.S.) was born in the Continent of Africa. He grew up in the jungle and walked barefoot. Only the lower part of his body was covered in a loin cloth. His daily encounter with wild animals and life in the jungle made him strong and fearless. It was his habit to think deeply over nature around him, from which he learn t new and fascinating things daily.

One day while sitting in the shade of a tree, he fell into a deep sleep, He clearly saw an Angel before him who gave him the good news that Allah had chosen to favour him. He was given a choice. He could either become a king or ask for wisdom. Luqman(A.S.) chose wisdom. When he awoke, he became aware that his senses and understanding had sharpened. He felt in complete harmony with nature and could understand the inner meaning of things, beyond their physical reality. Immediately he bowed down and thanked and praised Allah for this wonderful gift.

TAKEN INTO SLAVERY Luqman(A.S.) was captured by slave traders who invaded Africa. They sold him as a slave. He found that he was robbed of his freedom. He could neither move nor speak freely. This was the first trial he had to bear.

He suffered his bondage patiently, for his heart was lit with Faith and hope, and he was waiting for Allah's action.

The man who bought him was a good as well as an intelligent man. He treated Luqman with kindness. He was able to detect that Luqman was not an ordinary man and tried to test his intelligence.

He ordered Luqman(A.S.) to slaughter a sheep and to bring its worst part to him. Luqman(A.S.) slaughtered the sheep and took its heart and tongue to his master. On receiving them his master smiled, fascinated by Luqman(A.S.) 's choice of the'worst'. He understood that Luqman(A.S.) was trying to convey some deep meaning, though he could not make out exactly what. From this moment his owner began to take more interest in Luqman(A.S.) and showed more kindness to him.

A few days later, Luqman(A.S.) was again instructed to slaughter a sheep, but this time he was asked to take the best parts of the animal to the owner. Luqman(A.S.) slaughtered a sheep, and to his master's amazement, again brought the same organs (the heart and the tongue). His master asked Luqman(A.S.) how the heart and the tongue could be both the worst and the best parts. The wise Luqman(A.S.) answered: The tongue and the heart are the sweetest parts if its owner is pure; and if he is wicked, they too are as ! Thereafter, Luqman(A.S.) 's owner held him in great respect. Luqman(A.S.) was consulted by many people for advice, and the fame of his wisdom spread all over the country.

FREEDOM The kind owner had instructed his family to free Luqman(A.S.) after the owner's death. When his owner died, Luqman(A.S.) was granted freedom. Luqman(A.S.) travelled on and eventually settled among the Bani Israel. He was appointed as judge during the rule of Prophet Dawood(A.S.) , and was respected by all for his wise and fair judgments. He married and raised a family.

Luqman(A.S.) gave his son the following advice which is recorded in the Qur'an: "To Believe in Allah, and to be sincere in devotion to Him. Never associate partners with Allah, for associating anyone with Him is the greatest sin; not only is it a sin against Allah but also against oneself. Love and show obedience to parents even if they are unbelievers. If, however, a parent's way of life were to lead one to become an unbeliever then the path of goodness which leads to Allah should be followed , for one is answerable to Allah alone. Rizq (provisions), ability and au- thority come from Allah. These things are in His hands and not in the hands of parents or anyone else. Show gratitude to Allah by obeying him. Live your life on the principle of: Encouraging what is right and forbidding what is wrong. Tackle wrong deeds in society with patience. Be humble in dealing with others, both in speech and behavior, and do not turn your face away when talking to others, for Allah does not love the boastful and arrogant." (Quran, 31:13-19) THE LESSON

Our heart and tongue can make us good or bad. It is up to us how we use them. A wise employer should respect the wisdom of his lowliest worker. Allah has mentioned Luqman(A.S.) 's advice to his son as an example for us to follow. This advice should be followed by us as a guiding principle of life."Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

With the sighting of the new moon the Islaamic new year is ushered in. The first month Muharram is one of the four sacred months that Allah has mentioned in the Holy Qur’aan:Muharram is the month with which the Muslims begin their lunar Hijrah Calendar. It is one of the four sanctified months about which the Holy Quran says, "The number of the months according to Allah is twelve (mentioned) in the Book of Allah on the day He created heavens and the earth. Among these (twelve months) there are four sanctified."These four months, according to the authentic traditions, are Dhul-Qa'dah, Dhul-Hijjah, Muharram and Rajab. All the commentators of the Holy Quran are unanimous on this point, because the Holy Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, in his sermon on the occasion of his last Hajj, declared: "One year consists of twelve months, of which four are sanctified months, three of them are in sequence; Dhul-Qa'dah, Dhul-Hijjah, Muharram, and the fourth is Rajab."In fact, every month, out of the twelve, is originally equal to the other, and there is no inherent sanctity that may be attributed to one of them in comparison to the other months. When Allah Almighty chooses a particular time for His special blessings, the same acquires sanctity out of His grace.Thus, the sanctity of these four months was recognized right from the days of Sayyidina Ibrahim, alayhi salam. Since the Pagans of Makkah attributed themselves to Sayyidina Ibrahim, alayhi salam, they observed the sanctity of these four months and despite their frequent tribal battles, they held it unlawful to fight in these months.

In the Shariah of our Noble Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, the sanctity of these months was upheld and the Holy Quran referred to them as the "sanctified months".Muharram has certain other characteristics special to it, which are specified below.

Fasting During the MonthThe Noble Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, has said: 'The best fasts after the fasts of Ramadan are those of the month of Muharram."Although the fasts of the month of Muharram are not obligatory, yet one who fasts in these days out of his own will is entitled to a great reward by Allah Almighty. The Hadith cited above signifies that the fasts of the month of Muharram are most rewardable ones among the Nafl or voluntary fasts.The Hadith does not mean that the award promised for fasts of Muharram can be achieved only by fasting for the whole month. On the contrary, each fast during this month has merit. Therefore, one should avail of this opportunity as much as he can.In short, it is established through a number of authentic ahadith that fasting on the day of 'Ashura' is Sunnah of the Holy Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and makes one entitled to a great reward.

Friday, 9 January 2009

Indeed all praise is due to Allah, we praise Him, seek His aid and ask His forgiveness. We seek shelter in Allah from the evil of our own souls and the evil of our own actions. Whoever Allah has guided then no one can misguide him and whoever Allah has caused to be misguided then no one can guide him.To Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth.He creates what He wills.He bestows female (offspring) upon whom He wills,and bestows male (offspring) upon whom He wills.The Noble Qur'an - Ash-Shura 42:49loving KindnessHadith - Bukhari (#86), Muslim, Tirmidhi, and Nasa'i.Barra' said, "I saw the Prophet of Allah with Hasan upon his shoulders. The Prophet was saying, 'O Allah! I love him, so You love him too.'"Hadith - Bukhari (#91) and MuslimAbu Salmah related that Abu Hurayrah said, "The Prophet of Allah kissed Hasan ibn 'Ali while Aqra' ibn Habis was sitting nearby. Aqra' said, 'I have ten children and have never kissed one of them.' The Prophet looked at him and said, 'Those who show no mercy will be shown no mercy.'"The Noble Qur'an - Al-Ahqaf 46:15And We have enjoined on man to be dutiful and kind to his parents. His mother bears him with hardship and she brings him forth with hardship, and the bearing of him, and the weaning of him is thirty (30) months, till when he attains full strength and reaches forty years, he says: "My Lord! Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and that I may do righteous good deeds, such as please You, and make my off-spring good. Truly, I have turned to You in repentance, and truly, I am one of the Muslims (submitting to Your Will)."

Wednesday, 7 January 2009

The Cave of SafetyOnce there was a ruler who was very cruel. His name was Decius the Emperor and he ruled the vast Roman Empire which stretched from Spain to the Persian Gulf. The people who lived in this empire were forced to believe in many gods and goddesses. There was the god of war, the goddess of love, the sun-god, the god of the oceans, and many others. Some of these gods were symbolized by statues and the people were forced to pay special tribute to them or face the possibility of losing their lives.Within the Roman Empire there was a city called Ephesus located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a bustling city with a great seaport where merchants from all over the Empire came to buy and sell their goods. In the heart of this city lived a few youths that believed in the one true God, Allah. They formed a small group and prayed to Allah for guidance in this land of oppression and injustice. Allah heard their prayers and gave strength to their hearts so that they would not be afraid to proclaim their belief to the people of Ephesus. One day these youths went to the bazaar where many people gathered to do their shopping. The youths stood up on a platform so that all the people in the bazaar could see and hear them. They said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We shall never call upon any god other than Him because if we did, it would surely be a lie!"The crowd suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked up at the youths that had so boldly proclaimed their faith. There were people in the crowd who agreed with the youths but were too afraid to say it. Whenever someone talked about the one true God, Allah, they were tortured and executed. Other people in the crowd shouted at the youths on the platform. "Get out of there before we kill you," they said with gnarled teeth and clenched fists. The youths were not afraid and continued, "If our people worship other gods besides Allah, why don't they bring forward an authority clear and convincing for what they do? Who does more harm than the person who invents a lie about Allah?" As soon as they finished, the pagans started to rush to the platform. The youths quickly jumped down and ran to a cave high up on a mountainside a few miles away. The pagans grew tired trying to catch the nimble youths and decided to search for them the next day. After reaching safety in the cave, the youths were tired from running and decided to sleep there for a few hours. In order to protect these brave youths, Allah performed a miracle and kept them asleep for more than three hundred years. When they awoke they thought they were only asleep for a couple hours. The youths were hungry so one of them went down to the city to buy some food. Before he left the cave his friends warned him not to tell the pagans where they were. So the youth went down to the city of Ephesus with some money in his pocket. When he approached the city, he noticed something strange. He didn't recognize any of the people. Also, all of the clothes the people wore were different from his own. He couldn't believe the city had changed so much in just a few hours.He went to the bazaar and found a man baking bread. When the youth brought out his money the baker looked at it very closely. "Where did you get this from?" he asked, peering out the corner of his eye. "I saved it from my earnings, sir," said the youth. "This money has been out of date for 300 years!!," exclaimed the baker. The youth was shocked and the people of the bazaar began to gather around him. He now realized that Allah had save him and his friends from the persecution of the pagans by making them sleep for a long, long time. When he explained his story to the people that had gathered around him, they were overjoyed. They informed the youth that he was now living at a time when he will no longer be persecuted.The wicked ruler of the Roman Empire, Decius, had died long ago and now a new tolerant Emperor reigned over the land. The whole city came out of their houses and marched toward the cave where the other youths were. They took the youths and lifted them up onto their shoulders and carried them back down to the city of Ephesus.Their story became famous throughout the Roman Empire as one of the true and beautiful miracles of Allah mentioned in the Glorious Quran.

Tuesday, 6 January 2009

There was a pious man among the Banu Israel who always remained busy in the worship of Allah. A group of people came to him and told him that a tribe living nearby worshipped a tree. The news upset him, and with an axe on his shoulder he went to cut down that tree. On the way, Satan met him in the form of an old man and asked him where he was going. He said he was going to cut a particular tree. Satan said, "You have nothing to be concerned with this tree, you better mind your worship and do not give it up for the sake of something that does not concern you." "This is also worship," retorted the worshipper. Then Satan tried to prevent him from cutting the tree, and there followed a fight between the two, in which the worshipper overpowered the Satan. Finding himself completely helpless, Satan begged to be excused, and when the worshipper released him, he again said, "Allah has not made the cutting of this tree obligatory on you. You do not lose anything if you do not cut it. If its cutting were necessary, Allah could have got it done through one of his many Prophets." The worshipper insisted on cutting the tree. There was again a fight between the two and again the worshipper overpowered the Satan. "Well listen," said Satan, "I propose a settlement that will be to your advantage." The worshipper agreed, and Satan said, "You are a poor man, a mere burden on this earth. If you stay away from this act, I will pay you three gold coins everyday. You will daily find them lying under your pillow. By this money you can fulfil your own needs, can oblige your relative, help the needy, and do so many other virtuous things. Cutting the tree will be only one virtue, which will ultimately be of no use because the people will grow another tree." This proposal appealed to the worshipper, and he accepted it. He found the money on two successive days, but on the third day there was nothing. He got enraged, picked up his axe and went to cut the tree. Satan as an old man again met him on the way and asked him where he was going. "To cut the tree," shouted the worshipper. "I will not let you do it," said Satan. A fight took place between the two again but this time Satan had the upper hand and overpowered the worshipper. The latter was surprised at his own defeat, and asked the former the cause of his success. Satan replied, "At first, your anger was purely for earning the pleasure of Allah, and therefore Almighty Allah helped you to overpower me, but now it has been partly for the sake of the gold coins and therefore you lost." (ra).

Monday, 5 January 2009

Isaac Newton is, as most will agree, the greatest physicist of all time.At the very least, he is the undisputed father of modern optics,­ or so we are told at school where our textbooks abound with his famous experiments with lenses and prisms, his study of the nature of light and its reflection, and the refraction and decomposition of light into the colours of the rainbow.Yet, the truth is rather greyer; and I feel it important to point out that, certainly in the field of optics, Newton himself stood on the shoulders of a giant who lived 700 years earlier.For, without doubt, another great physicist, who is worthy of ranking up alongside Newton, is a scientist born in AD 965 in what is now Iraq who went by the name of al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham.Most people in the West will never have even heard of him. :)As a physicist myself, I am quite in awe of this man's contribution to my field, but I was fortunate enough to have recently been given the opportunity to dig a little into his life and work through my recent filming of a three-part BBC Four series on medieval Islamic scientists.

Modern methods.

Popular accounts of the history of science typically suggest that no major scientific advances took place in between the ancient Greeks and the European Renaissance.

But just because Western Europe languished in the Dark Ages, does not mean there was stagnation elsewhere. Indeed, the period between the 9th and 13th Centuries marked the Golden Age of Arabic science.

Great advances were made in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, physics, chemistry and philosophy. Among the many geniuses of that period Ibn al-Haytham stands taller than all the others.

Ibn-al Haytham conducted early investigations into light

Ibn al-Haytham is regarded as the father of the modern scientific method.

As commonly defined, this is the approach to investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge, based on the gathering of data through observation and measurement, followed by the formulation and testing of hypotheses to explain the data.

This is how we do science today and is why I put my trust in the advances that have been made in science.

But it is often still claimed that the modern scientific method was not established until the early 17th Century by Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes.There is no doubt in my mind, however, that Ibn al-Haytham arrived there first.In fact, with his emphasis on experimental data and reproducibility of results, he is often referred to as the "world's first true scientist".Understanding lightHe was the first scientist to give a correct account of how we see objects.It is incredible that we are only now uncovering the debt that today's physicists owe to an Arab who lived 1,000 years ago.He proved experimentally, for instance, that the so-called emission theory (which stated that light from our eyes shines upon the objects we see), which was believed by great thinkers such as Plato, Euclid and Ptolemy, was wrong and established the modern idea that we see because light enters our eyes.What he also did that no other scientist had tried before was to use mathematics to describe and prove this process.So he can be regarded as the very first theoretical physicist, too.He is perhaps best known for his invention of the pinhole camera and should be credited with the discovery of the laws of refraction.He also carried out the first experiments on the dispersion of light into its constituent colours and studied shadows, rainbows and eclipses; and by observing the way sunlight diffracted through the atmosphere, he was able to work out a rather good estimate for the height of the atmosphere, which he found to be around 100km.Enforced studyIn common with many modern scholars, Ibn-al Haytham badly needed the time and isolation to focus on writing his many treatises, including his great work on optics.He was given an unwelcome opportunity, however, when he was imprisoned in Egypt between 1011 and 1021, having failed a task set him by a caliph in Cairo to help solve the problem of regulating the flooding of the Nile.While still in Basra, Ibn al-Haytham had claimed that the Nile's autumn flood waters could be held by a system of dykes and canals, thereby preserved as reservoirs until the summer's droughts.But on arrival in Cairo, he soon realised that his scheme was utterly impractical from an engineering perspective.Yet rather than admit his mistake to the dangerous and murderous caliph, Ibn-al Haytham instead decided to feign madness as a way to escape punishment.This promptly led to him being placed under house arrest, thereby granting him 10 years of seclusion in which to work.Planetary motionHe was only released after the caliph's death. He returned to Iraq where he composed a further 100 works on a range of subjects in physics and mathematics.While travelling through the Middle East during my filming, I interviewed an expert in Alexandria who showed me recently discovered work by Ibn al-Haytham on astronomy.It seems he had developed what is called celestial mechanics, explaining the orbits of the planets, which was to lead to the eventual work of Europeans like Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton.It is incredible that we are only now uncovering the debt that today's physicists owe to an Arab who lived 1,000 years ago.